Continuous casting plant for continuously casting hot liquid metals

ABSTRACT

The invention envisages a plant for continuously casting hot liquid metals comprising an intermediate supply vessel having a substantially horizontal outlet duct, a water-cooled mould arranged with play substantially in alignment with said outlet duct, a cooling passage including guide means for continuous cast stock following said mould, and reshaping means for further processing said cast stock, in which the mould is arranged to be rotatable around its longitudinal axis and connected to a rocking drive for oscillatory movement of said mould in peripheral direction relative to said supply vessel, said play between said mould and said supply vessel being sealed by a covering ring having inlet means for introduction of a lubricating and sealing agent. By adoption of the new arrangement according to the invention it is possible to reduce the construction height of continuous casting bays, thereby eliminating any risks of accidents involved in the previous cascade arrangement.

United States atet Waclawiczek [451 Sept. 26, 1972 [54] CONTINUOUSCASTING PLANT FOR CONTINUGUSLY CASTING HOT [73] Assignee: VereinigteOsterreichishhe Eisenund Stahlwerke Aktiengesellschait,

Muldenstrasse, Linz, Austria 22 Filed: Dee.22, 1970 21 Appl.No.: 100,705

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 9, 1970 Austria ..A 166/70[52] U.S. Cl. ..164/260, 164/83, 164/281 [51] Int. Cl. ..B22d 1l/I0 [58]Field of Search ..164/73, 76, 82, 83, 260, 268, 164/270, 283

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,040,396 6/1962 Hudson..164/73 3,598,173 8/1971 Dore et al ..164/268 FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS 1,313,398 11/1962 France ..164/276 896,988 11/1953 Germany..164/83 Primary ExaminerR. Spencer Annear AttorneyBrumbaugh, Graves,Donohue & Raymond [57] ABSTRACT The invention envisages a plant forcontinuously casting hot liquid metals comprising an intermediate supplyvessel having a substantially horizontal outlet duct, a water-cooledmould arranged with play substantially in alignment with said outletduct, a cooling passage including guide means for continuous cast stockfollowing said mould, and reshaping means for further processing saidcast stock, in which the mould is arranged to be rotatable around itslongitudinal axis and connected to a rocking drive for oscillatorymovement of said mould in peripheral direction relative to said supplyvessel, said play between said mould and said supply vessel being sealedby a covering ring having inlet means for introduction of a lubricatingand sealing agent. By adoption of the new arrangement according to theinvention it is possible to reduce the construction height of continuouscasting bays, thereby eliminating any risks of accidents involved in theprevious cascade arrangement.

1 Claim, 2 Drawing Figures PAIENTEnsms I972 INVENTOR. By HEZBERTWACLAWICZEK M m5 ATTOKNEYS CONTINIJGUS CASTING PLANT F03 CONTINUOUSLYASTING HGT LIQUID METALS The invention relates to a continuous castingplant for continuously casting hot liquid metals comprising a tundish ora supply funnel and a water-cooled, preferably horizontally arrangedmould from which the cast bar is drawn, further cooled and, if desired,reshaped under stretching.

' In most continuous casting plants which are in operation today thecasting platform is arranged relatively high above mill floor level sothat the casting ladle has to be lifted. This necessitates an adequatelyhigh casting bay and may lead toaccidents. Therefore attempts have beenmade to build continuous casting plants with as low a height aspossible. In the customary plants the mould is usually arrangedvertically and the cast bar leaves the mould vertically in downwarddirection, whereupon, after passing a cooling zone, it is drawn or bentinto horizontal direction. The mould. may also have the shape of acircular arc so that the bar follows a circular line when leaving themould. For operational and metallurgical reasons the radius of this aremust not fall below a given measure which determines the limit in anyattempt to reduce the construction height of a continuous casting plant.The best solution of the problem to build with a low height would be theapplication of the horizontal continuous casting process, in which themould is arranged horizontally and the steel flows from a heat retentionfurnace or some other intermediate vessel directly into the mould.

In order to prevent the solidifying bar' shell from sticking to themould wall it is necessary in continuous casting to create a relativemovement between the mould wall and the drawn bar so that the mould isoscillated in the direction of its longitudinal axis. In verticalcontinuous casting plants this oscillating-of the mould does not presentany problems. The only disadvantage is the constantly changing width ofthe gap between the lower margin of the mould and the first pair ofsupporting and guiding rollers; the bar shell is very thin in this areaand there is the danger that the bar might break through. Therefore oneis forced to limit the casting speed to a degree at which it will beassured that the casting shell has a sufficient thickness and anadequate strength in relation to the ferrostatic pressure of the liquidbar core.

In horizontal continuous casting, however, the oscillation of the mouldin longitudinal direction of the bar has met with major difficultiesbecause it is scarcely feasible to provide for a sealing towards thetundish or heat retention furnace which is directly connected with themould; this problem of sealing so far has prevented any large scaleapplication of the horizontal continuous casting process.

The invention is aimed at avoiding these disadvantages and difficultiesand in a continuous casting plant of the kind defined in theintroductory part resides in that the mould is arranged to be rotatablearound its longitudinal axis and connected with a drive adapted toperiodically change the direction of rotation so as to oscillate themould in peripheral direction. A horizontal mould mounted to berotatable around its longitudinal axis is known per se. In the knownconstruction, however, the mould and the bar are rotated in the samesense and; with the same angular velocity around eir co on ion 'tudinalis soasto reve t the bar rom stic ing to e moufion one S186 an thus, anuneven cooling of the bar or heating of the mould, respectively, as wellas the disadvantages caused thereby (bending and jamming of the bar andthe mould).-The rotation drive thus does not cause an oscillatingrelative movement between the mould and the bar; for the oscillatingmovement of the mould an individual drive is provided which, incustomary manner, moves the mold to and fro in the direction of itslongitudinal axis.

The gap between the tundish or the supply funnel, respectively, and themould is suitably surrounded by a covering ring into which via a conduita lubricating and sealing agent may be introduced.

'Since in such a continuous casting plant only. round cast bars may beproduced at least one rolling stand for stretch-rolling round billetsinto, if desired, quadrangular, e.g., square, or polygonal, rolledproducts may be provided.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood it shall now bedescribed with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which;

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a horizontal continuouscasting plant and;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of a mould along the line II-II ofFIG. 1. v

The liquid steel is cast from a ladle or heat retention furnace 1 into atundish 2 having a refractory lining; the water cooled mould 3 isdirectly joined to this tundish. The cast bar 4 is drawn out by means ofa device not shown in the drawing. The bar 4 comprises a solidifying barshell 5 and a liquid core 6. Numeral 7 denotes supporting and guidingrollers. The bar is further cooled by means of a water cooling device 8.The cooling zone is followed by several rolling stands destined forfurther shaping of the bar. Two horizontal rolling stands 9, 9

and two vertical rolling stands 10, 10' are provided for. Using thestretch-rolling process, it is possible to obtain products of anydesired cross section and to convert at the same time the structure ascast into a rolled structure.-

The mould 3 is provided with a ring 11 having a conduit 12 for supplyinga lubricant into the gap 13 between the tundish 2 and the mould 3. Thering 11 may be rigidly connected with the mould 3. The mould is arrangedon rollers 14 to be rotatable around its longitudinal axis and is movedby means of a motor 17 via a crankdrive 15, 16 so as to be oscillated inperipheral direction as illustrated by a double arrow in FIG. 2.

I claim:

l. A plant for continuously casting hot liquid metals comprising anintermediate supply vessel having a substantially horizontal outletduct, a water-cooled mould arranged with play substantially in alignmentwith said outlet duct, a cooling passage including guide means forcontinuous cast stock following said mould, and reshaping means forfurther processing said cast stock, said mould being arranged to berotatable around its longitudinal axis and connected to a rocking drivefor oscillatory movement of said mould in peripheral direction relativeto said supply vessel, said play between said mould and said supplyvessel being sealed by a covering ring having inlet means forintroduction of a lubricating and sealing agent.

* IF i

1. A plant for continuously casting hot liquid metals comprising anintermediate supply vessel having a substantially horizontal outletduct, a water-cooled mould arranged with play substantially in alignmentwith said outlet duct, a cooling passage including guide means forcontinuous cast stock following said mould, and reshaping means forfurther processing said cast stock, said mould being arranged to berotatable around its longitudinal axis and connected to a rocking drivefor oscillatory movement of said mould in peripheral direction relativeto said supply vessel, said play between said mould and said supplyvessel being sealed by a covering ring having inlet means forintroduction of a lubricating and sealing agent.